"It's the move," is how Broncos outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil has described it. "The move you have, the one maybe you hold back, save for the big time when you need to get to the quarterback. If you have something you can do and (the offensive lineman) knows it's coming and you still get the quarterback, then you know that's the move."

All of the greatest pass rushers in the league's history have had one. They are moves passed down through the years with handles such as the head slap, the rip move, the forklift, the bull, the hump move and, as the Broncos will face Sunday, the spin move.

Hall of Famers Bruce Smith and John Randle long have been considered the best at spinning into, around and past offensive linemen on their way to tossing quarterbacks to the ground. In this day and age, it is the Colts' Dwight Freeney who is the league's Sultan of Spin.

Freeney and his fellow defensive end Robert Mathis disassembled the New York Giants' offense Sunday night, each finishing with two sacks in the Colts' dominating victory. In that game, the Giants largely tried to keep Freeney at bay with only tackle David Diehl, with disastrous results.

Freeney did what all pass rushers with a signature move do, he used the fear of the move at times as well as the move itself to take over a game.

"If all a guy does is speed rush, you can sit and block that," said Hall of Famer Bruce Matthews, who started at least a season's worth of games at all five offensive line positions in his 18-year playing career.

"And there are guys who are as strong and gifted, but all they can do is bull rush, and you can block that. When they learn that counter move and get you going one way and use your momentum against you, then they are dangerous. When they can use that counter, that move, at the most important times in the game, then they are really dangerous."

Freeney's spin move works because he is also powerful enough to get to the quarterback even if he doesn't use it. Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said there were times in last season's game against the Colts when the Broncos couldn't clear room at the line of scrimmage because Freeney also could play with power when he had to.

"Those two players may be smaller than some defensive ends in the league, but I don't think they're any less powerful," McDaniels said. "Freeney gets so much credit for his speed, his quickness, his spin moves and all those things, but when he chooses to hit the tackle right down the middle and throw him on the quarterback, you know, he does that plenty too."

The threat of the move can be almost as effective as the move. Hall of Famer Reggie White didn't use what he called his "hump move" — basically a hip toss of the offensive lineman in front of him — on every snap, but the blocker always had to be ready for it.

In Super Bowl XXXI, White turned a one-sack game into a three-sack day by tossing down Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe on back-to-back plays late in the fourth quarter with his signature maneuver.

"Those good ones, the ones you remember, could come any time," said former longtime Broncos defensive coordinator Joe Collier. "You know offenses would plan for it, wait for it, and those really great players could still do it when they had to because they had so many good parts about their games. Knowing it is one thing, stopping it is always another."

"You know it's coming, you're sure it's coming and it doesn't, that's almost worse sometimes," said Matthews, now an assistant offensive line coach for the Houston Texans. "So they catch you leaning one way or the other, Freeney spins when you don't think he is, or he doesn't spin and you were leaning out and he drives you back into the quarterback."

Collier said in his experience defensive linemen could team up to create a dominant move that could get them to the quarterback at times when it was most needed. Collier said the Broncos' Rulon Jones and Karl Mecklenberg were such a pair.

Both were gifted players who on their own manufactured sacks, but who then took it another step when they were asked to rush in certain passing situations. Collier would line up Mecklenberg down in a three-point stance to Jones' outside shoulder.

"Their moves 1-on-1 were good, so good, but together their timing was really something," Collier said. "When they worked together, they were amazing. They had such great timing. Rulon would go upfield on the guard and (Mecklenberg) would start outside and come underneath and the guard who was blocking Rulon would pick the tackle off and Mecklenberg would be free for big plays."

Mount Rushmore of rush moves

NFL reporter Jeff Legwold analyzes the five best pass rush moves and players who did them the best:

THE HEAD SLAP

The best: Hall of Famer Deacon Jones — Jones also coined the term "sack," but his signature move is now against the rules. A hard hit to the side of a lineman's helmet would disorient him and knock him off balance. Hall of Famer Ron Mix once said: "You haven't lived until you've had your bell rung by Deacon."

THE FORKLIFT

The best: Jumpy Geathers — The 6-foot-7, 290-pound Geathers would plow into the offensive lineman, picking him up and shoving him back into the quarterback.

THE HUMP MOVE

The best: Hall of Famer Reggie White — Immensely powerful, he would batter an offensive lineman, usually to the inside shoulder, with such force the lineman would be knocked off balance and out of White's way. It looked like a hip toss.

THE RIP

The best: Hall of Famer Howie Long — Matthews called it "the toughest move for me." Long would drive his arm in an upper-cut motion under the offensive lineman's arm, pinning it. "There was nothing you could do. It was either a sack or a holding call or the refs just got sick of calling it, but you couldn't get your arm out."

THE SPIN

The best: Hall of Famer Bruce Smith — Dwight Freeney is the league's leading practitioner now. The rusher drives toward the blocker, then quickly spins away as the blocker loses his balance. The rusher then drives through the opening left behind to the quarterback.

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